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20 NOVEMBER 2016 — PFonline.com THE VOICE OF FINISHING 80 YEARS for a total of about two hours. That sent them into looking at operations and processes, and after tweaking a few proce- dures, got the spray time up to around 2 hours and 45 minutes per day, a significant increase. "When we first started looking at the data, we and the Co-Line people began to realize that painters do a heck of a lot more than just spray paint all day," Hooper says. "But what Eric and his team do well with their employees is working with them on owning these improvements, so it is both the employees and management working together to improve efficiencies." Brand simply asked his employees: Do you think you can trigger the gun more often? What resulted were painters and other employees coming up with ways to move products more efficiently around the plant to keep the people doing the spraying in the booth ready to apply coatings. One improvement was made regarding the respirators that painters wore. It took time and effort to put the breathing equipment on and off when painters moved parts in and out of the spray booth; the employees decided to limit the amount of time the painter left the spray booth, and instead had other employees load parts into the booths, or bring them closer to the doors so that it cut down on the time needed to put on and take off the respirators. "It had nothing to do with improving the equipment, it was all about improving the process," Hooper says. "The data challenged Co-Line to develop quite a simple solution of having another person pull the parts in for the painter, which resulted in a big difference in their overall efficiencies." Training Aid Brand says it is the painters and supervisors who examine the numbers to see trends or problem areas that need to be fixed. "It's great in that the numbers give great feedback, even to the point that they can better provide our estimating depart- ment with more detailed info on what the cost of jobs really are," he says. "But overall, the painters like the data because it truly demonstrates how effective and efficient they are." Brand says the analytics have been especially helpful in training new painters. "We are able to see things that we couldn't if we were in the booth with a new painter," he says. "Things such as how they are pulling the trigger, how much paint they are spraying, and even their cycle times." A new painter and his supervisor were able to review the data and pinpoint issues with his trigger usage and spray cycles. "We would have spent quite some time figuring that out, but we were able to see the numbers and correct the problem right away," Brand says. "The numbers say a lot." For information on Co-Line Manufacturing, please visit colinemfg.com. For information on Carlisle Fluid Technologies, visit carlisleft.com. INCREASE YOUR PAINT LINE EFFICIENCY!! American Finishing Resources, part of DuBois Chemicals, is the national leader in providing paint line services and solutions. We have a proven model to improve your paint line efficiency, and there is a growing demand for our services. Through a continuous improvement exercise with one of our experienced Application Engineers, we guarantee to help you in the following areas: • Higher part throughput and density • Increased paint transfer efficiency • Improved first pass yield due to fewer rejects • Energy savings and efficiency American Finishing Resources has worked with several major OEM's in the agriculture, automotive, and appliance industries. We always offer engineered solutions that are custom designed to a specific paint line. Additional services that American Finishing Resources provide: • Coating Removal • 3D CAD Design Center • Custom Fabricated Hooks, Fixtures, and Material Handling Carts Contact Brad Davis for more information bradford.davis@duboischemicals.com Call 281-799-2334 LIQUID/POWDER